Tianyu She

Teri

Roiger
History of Jazz Final Paper
11/25/2015
Student Jazz Ensembles III
When I was a kid, music was pretty much illegal back in China.
The only type of music you were allowed to listen to were patriotic
songs hailing the country as the best. I had never heard any other type
of music until my dad became a government official. When youre a
government official in China, you can get away with almost anything.
So one day, my dad brought back some CDs of the greatest hits in jazz
of all time. I listened for hours everyday until I moved to the States. So
when I heard some of these tracks again performed today by both the
Studley 11 and 8 ensembles, I wasnt just idly appreciating the tunes,
the mood, or the atmosphere; I was looking back peering at an earlier
rendition of myself, gazing at the tenderness of a young me who only
had jazz as one of the very few luxuries in life.
The Studley 11 Ensemble, directed by Teri Roiger, was up first.
They started off the night with Honeysuckle Rose, originally
composed by Fats Waller. The 5 ladies voices mixed very well in
harmony. However, what was even better was the solo. She had the
voice of an alto, and it hit the high notes quite well, which was very
pleasing to the ears. Another point that especially caught my ear was

the trumpeter. Gary Patrik sounded very experienced on the trumpet,

and flowed with everyone else very well. He complemented the solos
voice.
If I wasnt listening carefully, I definitely would have missed it.
The transition into the next piece, Speak Low, was so well hidden by
the crescendo ending of Honeysuckle Rose that it could have very
well been mistaken for the same song.
Autumn Leaves started with an alto voice solo and then
accompanied by my favorite type of jazz: slow/smooth jazz. I was
quickly disappointed when the tempo and beat sped up. It was not as
quick as a bepop style. I realized that it was so it could allow every
instrument to get its own emphasis. Each instrument would have
taken too long in a slow piece, but in a fast piece, everyone can show
off that theyve been shedding. After each instrument got their own
solo, the singers began to scat, one of the things that most amaze me
in jazz. The ability to scat is insanely difficult and requires years of
practice to be able to change pitch and tones that quickly. The first
time we heard scat in class amazed me that I had to try to see if I
could attempt it myself. Overall, the song was quite catchy and upbeat
after the initial start, and reminded me a lot to sound like swing with
an AABC form.
Waters of March instantly got my attention, even before the
song started. Before the song started, we were given an introduction, a

little background. They were going to sing the song in 2 different

languages: Portuguese and English. This directly pointed, to Bossa
Nova Medley a dual language song we recently heard in class.
Coincidently, or not, Antonio Carlos Jobim was in both these songs. Like
Bossa Nova Medley, Waters of March was a medium paced song; it
was not something you could slow dance to, nor fast dance to. It was
very beautiful to listen to and it painted an image in my mind. If I
closed my eyes, the Portuguese language illustrated a sunny day by
the beach on the eastern side of the world.
The last piece performed by the Studley 11 Ensemble was a
collage. It was a mix of a lot of individual pieces put together to sound
like one piece. 2 sections that particularly stood out were C Jam
Blues and Centerpiece because we have heard them in class.
Listening to those 2 pieces in particular is very different than listening
to them in video because it allows you to hear the different vibes that
the song can give off. It gave the whole auditorium a bar like feel;
something a video cannot do. Patrik on the trumpet didnt play in the
beginning, which I was disappointed by, because I feel like it could
have added a different taste to the song. The whole section had a
devilmaycare feeling, as if music was the only thing that mattered in
the world. This combined piece of blues showed how all these different
pieces can be put together and the transition can barely be heard. Its
as if all the blues are just one big continuation of a song.

The Studley 11 proved to have many talents and the only thing
surpassing that was their enthusiasm. The cajon player, Dean
Mahoney, especially caught my eye. Anyone who would have seen him
that day would have called him a rock star; he was simply attacking
the instrument with such a percussive rigor and power as if he was one
with the cajon.
The Studley 8 Ensemble, directed by John Menegon, was next.
The set started with A Night in Tunisia. The song was pleasant
enough, however One of the voices, Meghan Tobias, was out-singing
the other. I couldnt feel what kind of vibe Marissa Reyes, the other
voice, was giving because it almost felt as if Ms. Tobias was trying to
compensate for their missing singer, Ms. Georgia Burnside. It was
unfortunate because she could have possibly balanced the other 2
voices so that they were all equal, and you could feel what each singer
had to say.
Midway through the Studley 8 Ensembles performance, the
stage staff started adjusting the lights. It was very bright and then very
dark which made it very annoying and difficult to concentrate on the
performance. However once adjusted to dark it gave a very good vibe
of it being like a jazz club, as if you were sitting there and having a
drink listening to music.
Im very glad that in the next song, This Masquereade, each
voice got a chance to sing so I could hear both. Ms. Reyes can sing at

both a falsetto, and at a baritone level, and allowed the contrast to

melodize. The next piece, Charmaleon, broke the sheet order, which
caught me off guard, but the instrumentation was the key clue. It felt
as each of the voices was pretending to be instruments to complement
the others.
Good Morning Heartache caught my eye because Billie Holiday
originally recorded it and we learned a great deal about her in class.
This proved to be my favorite piece that night due to the nature of the
song: soft flowing, gentle melody, and smooth jazz. When I have a
chance to listen to jazz in my free time, this is the type I listen to. The
singers do a well job of conveying emotion in this song, as if they had
been through the heartache themselves.
The last piece was Birdland and started with the bass. This was
the first time I had ever heard of the song and I can see why it is very
popular. The tune is incredibly catchy. The 2 voices sang very quickly.
However, the part I intently disliked was the part where the
instruments progressively got really loud and the lyrics became
incoherent. This problem was present in the other songs too. The rest
of the song was really enjoyable. It has an undertone of fun. We
learned in class that Weather Report also had played this song.
This biggest problem in the concert was the noise level of the
instruments. In many cases, it overpowered the voices and grew so
loud it hurt my ears. They drown out both the voices and the relaxing

tune that it was meant to have. I was relieved when they both played
softer and stopped altogether to let the singers have their spotlight.
Overall, however, I can tell that everyone in the ensemble have been
shedding a lot. I didnt like any other type of slow jazz but maybe
after hearing some of the pieces tonight, ill give some other styles a
second chance.